CHICAGO — Half of middle-income retirees in the United States don't fully understand how the Affordable Care Act affects them personally, according to a new survey.
While virtually all middle-income retirees have heard of the ACA, frequently referred to as Obamacare, a survey by the Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement found the lack of confidence in understanding the ACA is even more pronounced among women who are retired.
Three times as many women don't feel confident in their understanding of the ACA as compared with those who feel they have a good understanding of how the law will impact them (56% vs. 17%, respectively).
Among the least understood individual provisions of the ACA are two that may significantly impact retirees. One in six retirees are not familiar with the fact the ACA caps health insurance premiums for older people relative to rates for younger people (18%) or that it will close the Medicare Part D prescription drug donut hole (18%).
More than a quarter (27%) of middle-income retirees ages 55 to 64 who do not receive any type of government insurance coverage report either having purchased their own private health insurance policy (15%) or do not currently have health insurance (12%).A slightly greater total percentage of retirees ages 55 to 65 find themselves as potential beneficiaries of the state health insurance exchanges than the percentage of the working population.
More than four in ten (42%) middle-income retirees ages 55 to 65 indicate they either have or will investigate the cost of health insurance through an exchange.
Respondents said the best aspects of the ACA is it eliminates pre-existing condition exclusions (68%), offers a free Medicare annual wellness visit (60%) and includes initiatives to make Medicare more efficient (60%).
But one-half (52%) of all retirees say one of the worst aspects of the ACA is the law's requirement that individuals own health insurance or pay a penalty.
A nationwide sample of 800 retired Americans ages 55 and older, with an annual household income of between $25,000 and $75,000, participated in the internet-based survey. The margin of error is +/3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
